St George, Utah with the Mathews

After our Wyoming trip we were so lucky to be able to go on another family vacation to St. George, Utah!

Jessica and Nate invited us to go to Nate's family's time share St. George house. It is the perfect little vacation house with two living rooms, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a outdoor patio, and extra mattresses tucked away in the closets ready to be pulled out to sleep several children on the floor. The layout makes this little house spacious and accommodating. We have been here before with Nate and Jessica's family and our family loves this spot of heaven on earth!

We did what I called "Mom's Super Summer School" during the summer months. We learned about ancient history in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Africa, Greece, etc. We brought our school with us on this trip and enjoyed learning about hieroglyphics and cuneiform.

The back yard is home to MANY snails. The kids collected them and neatly placed them on a bed of leaves--Oleander leaves, oops. This is a poisonous plant. Thankfully, no one tried to eat the leaves!

We got to see the Disney movie UP! in 3D. It made Rob a little woozy and, of course, made me cry.

Annebel, Shelby and Abby slept on the front living room floor while Bastian and Weston slept on the back living room floor. Hayden slept on the couch. At night everyone was exhausted and was asleep in no time because we swam hard and played hard all day long.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to a nutritious breakfast of cookies and milk eaten in bowls with built in straws?

Notable Quotables

March 2009
Weston to Mom: "I love you so much. I wish there were two of you."

Weston to Mom: "Did Jesus make our slobber?"

Weston to Mom: "I don't want to be baptized."  I asked, "Why don't you want to be baptized?" "Because then I will belong to Jesus and I always want to belong to you." I let him know that Jesus wants him to be mine forever and ever and He is the only One that makes it possible.

Bastian after Weston threw up: "It looked like he was throwing up a super duper big chocolate shake."

Abby talking about her muscles: "The reason I have such big muscles is because I put yeast in them. My bread muscles will rise."

Bastian telling me his desire for the day: "I want a video game or piano lessons."

Summer 2009My mom Pauline Bastian wrote to my brother saying:
"I'm sitting here full of wisdom, and you're not asking questions."

I saw bruises on Bastian's ribs and asked, "What is that from?" To which he replied, "Oh, nothing. Just arrows." Grandpa LeBaron and Dad play a fun game with the kids (at least they think it's fun) called, "Arrow in: in or out." The person who shoots the arrow actually just pinches the other person pretty hard and you have to decide if you want them to keep pinching you or if you want them to slide the arrow out which is even more painful than the initial pinch. To get the arrow out, the pincher slowly pulls their pinching fingers off their skin. Don't be fooled. If you chose arrow out, another arrow is coming! (Sounds exactly like a game a boy or a man would think up!)

I was saying that one of my skills as a woman is that I grow people. Abby said, "I do too. I just haven't developed it yet."

While printing something on cardstock I explained to the kids that cardstock is a thicker, heavier paper. Bastian ran to get my printed document and said while picking it up, "Oh, this is VERY heavy....ohhhhhh."

Hayden was upset about something when Bastian said, "It looks like THE HAYDEN is mad."

Fall 2009
I came in to see how Bastian was doing in the bathtub when I saw him trying to wash his completely DRY hair with shampoo. I told him that he needed to get his hair wet. He said, "I wondered why it wasn't going so good."

Fall 2007-I know, a long time ago.
I was teaching the kids that the Lord's kingdom is filled with those who do the right things. Hayden said, "The Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of do-ers. Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of manures."

Other Quotes I love:
The chief function of your body is to carry your brain around. --Thomas Edison
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. --Anonymous

More Wyoming

Who could imagine pesky little dandelions looking so beautiful painted across field after field after field? I certainly didn't think it was possible, but here is proof that beauty can be found even amidst these weeds that we try so hard to keep out of our grass.

The men (who reverted to boys) and the younger boys launched rockets and shot guns everyday that we were there.

We went on a beautiful hike up the canyon near a small river called Swift Creek. The water moved very fast for most of it's journey down the mountain. I gave myself anxiety thinking about what would happen if our fearless Weston decided he wanted to stand in the awesome, white water. Rob and I talked about a plan if such a thing were to happen. An unspoken part of the plan was for us to keep a vice grip on his hand so he could get nowhere near the creek.

Farther up the mountain, the creek slowed down and there was a place to sit down while the kids hiked around finding the treasures in nature like deer droppings and gnarled sticks.

Star Valley, Wyoming

We were invited by our friends, the Martin's, to come visit the place where Val Martin grew up. The Christensen family, another friendly family from our ward was also invited to come. We stayed in Val's grandparent's house that is now owned by the family since their passing. It is a beautiful and spacious property! There was an old swing set, a fire pit, a field for riding four wheelers, a creek, a bridge, a hill, and the most gorgeous scenery you'd ever want to sit and gaze at. It was so much fun! We went into "town" and purchased some fireworks and a few little trinkets for the kids. The boys were in heaven blowing things up and shooting guns. It was a highlight of our summer. We left the day before school ended. I followed Leslie Christensen in her minivan with her kids. Rob, Val, and Dallen had left the day prior so they could ride four wheelers along the countryside before the wives and kidlets arrived. Lynda left earlier that morning with her kids. I picked up Hayden after school and we headed for cowboy country. He attended 5th grade Seven Peaks day where they get to go to Seven Peaks Water park for the whole day with their grade and he was so burned! I felt so bad for him. He took several doses of Ibuprofen on the trip and we rubbed a lot of Aloe Vera with lidocaine to soothe the burn.

Mmmmm, roasted marshmallows! I am a sucker for them, and so are my kids. Weston's looks like coal on a stick!

Bastian's kindergarten graduation, Grandparent Day for Abby and Hayden Turns 11

Bastian's Kindergarten Graduation

Bastian was the cutest little kindergartner singing all the songs his class had worked so hard to learn.




Grandparent Day for Abby

Abby was so fortunate to have 3 grandmas come for her grandparents day!  She was the only one. Great Grandma Orrock, Grandma LeBaron and Grandma Bastian all attended her special event. Weston and Bastian were able to come as well.  Abby got to have her grandmas tell her about their lives when they were kids.  It was a wonderful day.



My Mom came and spent the night in preparation for grandparents day and put Abby's hair up in rollers.







Hayden Turns 11

Hayden party was a brawl....a Super Smash Brother's Brawl! We brought the big flat screen TV from upstairs to the main floor and set up the Wii so that Hayden and his friends could have Super Smash Brother's Brawl battles on the same floor as the other party festivities. We did this so it would be more convenient for Hayden's friend, Kent, who is in a wheelchair. Those in attendance were Kent Dominguez, Jacob Olson, Ethan Burnham, Josh Johnson, Sam Hansbrow, and Trenton Teasdale. Everyone of these boys except for Trenton (because he attends a different school) is one of Kent's Kronies. This was a group made up by the boys in 5th grade. Two other kronies were invited but were unable to attend.



Back by popular demand was the game where the boys raced to eat a donut hanging by a string the fastest.




The boys also turned on our electric piano and danced around. Kent threw his head back laughing at some of the ridiculous dance moves performed by the boys.



Kathryn, Rob's sister, and I listened to some of their conversations and giggled in the kitchen. At one point Josh was playing mercy with Kent. Josh said to Kent, "Say mercy! I don't want to hurt you." Kent still wanted to play. Josh waited in vain and finally said, "Fine," then he turned it up and Kent cried, "Mercy!"

Trenton picking out his piece of cake said, "I want the cake that is the farthest away because it's the loneliest." I handed out forks to eat the cake and Sam said, "Thanks, I might not need it."

Abby's Great Brain Project

Abby worked hard on a project for school called "The Great Brain." She chose to learn more about baking. With the help of her mentor (aka: Mom) we read up on the different kinds of leaveners used in breads, baked many things using those leaveners, toured BYU bakery, and at the end Abby shared her knowledge in a presentation she gave to her 2nd grade class. Together Abby and I baked chocolate chip cookies, snowball cookies (twice), white bread, and banana bread. At the class presentation she showed them many of the different tools used in baking, demonstrated how to proof yeast, and gave the kids a taste test of foods made with each kind of leavener. She gave samples of chocolate chip cookies, sourdough bread, cinnamon raisin bread, pound cake, banana bread, and pita bread. Here is the paper she wrote for her project.

Abby's Great Brain Project: BAKING

The reasons I picked baking are that I want to be a good baker and I think it is fun to bake. There are many things to know about baking. I will share with you some of the things I have learned while I studied this subject.

There are many tools used in baking. Some of them are: measuring cups and spoons, pans, mixing bowls, spatulas, cooling racks, and an oven. Measuring cups and spoons help you to measure your ingredients correctly. The oven can be put on different temperatures. That is important because you need the right temperature for different foods.

I went to the BYU bakery. My uncle works there. He was able to show me the big oven. The oven has six shelves. The shelves rotate around and around like a ferris wheel when you press a lever. The oven can bake ninety-six loaves of bread at a time. There is a mixer that I saw there. It was huge! It can hold 130 pounds of dough. That makes 86 loaves of bread! There was a machine that had a conveyor belt that had rollers on it that flattened dough. Then there was another machine that cut the dough into dough shapes when you move the lever back and forth. My mom and I got to taste green, mint frosting out of an enormous bowl. There was also a machine that filled cream puffs with custard. I got one to taste but I dropped it on the floor on accident.

Different ingredients are used in making different baked goods. Some ingredients used are: flour, salt, sugar, eggs, oil, butter, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, yeast and sponge. Not the kind of sponge that you clean your counter with. This kind of sponge is yeast that you grow yourself. You can make all kinds of things from these ingredients like cookies, cakes, batter breads, and yeast breads. The last four ingredients that I named are called leaveners. Leaveners make bubbles in bread, cookies, and cake. The bubbles make them rise.

Baking soda is a chemical compound. Baking powder is baking soda mixed with cream of tartar and cornstarch. Yeast is a plant that is not green. To make it rise it needs to be fed sugar. Sponge is a mixture of ingredients that you leave out on your counter so that the yeast spores in the air can come and grow there.

3500 years ago in Egypt they made bread with yeast. Before the Egyptians discovered baking with yeast, all bread was flat and hard as a rock. On the walls of pyramids there were drawings and messages that showed the people making bread. In the tombs of the pharaohs they would put things for the afterlife that they would need. One of those things was bread shaped like a servant because they thought he would need servants in the afterlife too. They had forty kinds of bread. They recently found a bowl with bread in it that was 3500 years old that looked a lot like it did right after it was made. I am thankful for the Egyptians discovery of baking with yeast.

I had a lot of fun baking and learning about baking. I hope you will too.

Abby's School Poem

Abby recited a poem in front of her 2nd grad class entitled "I Have a Baby-sitter Here With Me. This poem can be sung to the song "I Have a Little Baby Bumblebee," but she didn't sing it.

I Have a Baby-sitter Here With Me

I have a baby-sitter here with me

She's on the phone while she's watching TV

I thought she was supposed to play with me

Now.....she's hungry!

My baby-sitter's gonna raid the snacks

Cookies, candy, a box of Cracker Jack

She chomped so fast that right before my eyes

She....ate the prize!

Wait till my parents come home, what a fit

Bet they'll never ask her back to sit

Oh no, what am I saying? I'd miss her

She's.....my sister!

Abby wore her pajamas and brought a pizza box and some papers wadded up like garbage. Mrs. Paice, her 2nd grade teacher, is putting the microphone around her neck so the class can hear her. She spoke plainly and confidently and was hardly even nervous!